At Lewis Waite Farm - September 2007

The haying is finally done! The last bale put in the barn. It is ironic that the season began quite late when the early summer rains would not quit, and now we wind up the last of the haying in a drought. The ground is very dry. The grass on the hills where the soil is rocky and thin is burnt and brown. Certain patches of the pastures seem green but re-growth after the last trimming by the cows is very slow to come back. All the seasonal streams are dry and the streams that generally run all year seem a trickle of their former selves. Luckily we have 2 ponds to use for emergency watering. Today’s forecast included rain but we have yet to see a rain cloud looming. Garden seeds planted for fall crops of carrots, beets, lettuce, kale and kohlrabi are barely germinating. Let’s hope for a couple of days of steady light rains to jump-start our transition to fall. The leaves of some of the trees in dry locations are starting to turn their fall colors and falling. This is the end of the dog days of summer. The good thing is that the tomatoes love it, our swimming in our pond and tubing on the Battenkill are extended, and there is plenty of war weather to come before the chilly winds begin.

The Washington County Fair was a lot of fun and brought a series of visitors to the farm. My sister Beverly and my niece Laura came for the week and we went to the fair 3 times! I’m the only one who will go on any rides with Laura and luckily there are some she will ride herself. We also had a visit from Jayme our coordinator from Hellgate CSA and the D’Antonio family from Roxbury Farm 86th St CSA..There are lots of farm animals; cows, steers, goats, sheep, horses, draft horses, oxen, chickens, ducks, pheasants, rabbits, reindeer, pigs and piglets lounging in their stalls. We missed the rooster crowing contest but saw some of the cows and sheep judging and Laura’s favorite – the baby chicks and ducks you can hold in your hand. There is a display that has the baby ducks swim to climb a ladder to the top where the food cup is just a little reach for them. If they reach too far, they slide down the slide back into the water. Very cute to watch. There are tractor pulls of all kinds (garden, pedal toy, working farm, souped up tractors, trucks and monster trucks), sideshows and games, demonstrations of draft horse pulling, shearing, maple syrup making, spinning, quilting, rug hooking, ventriloquists, comedy acts, firemen shows and the judging of the vegetable, jams, crafts, photos and artwork of both adults and the kids and 4 H groups.

The summer has flown by, and we’re beginning to plan for turkeys already. We found a turkey farm in Orwell VT that is called Stonewood Farm www.stonewoodfarm.com . We are working with Paul Stone to coordinate the delivery in November and working with the webmaster to get the turkey ordering pages ready sometime in September.

There is a Wine and Cheese Tour in our area on the weekend of Sept 15-16 and 3 Corner Field Farm and Consider Bardwell Farm are 2 of the featured farms. See www.cheesetour.blogspot.com for more information.

Hope you all are looking forward to getting back to the routine of fall.

Take care and be well, Nancy and Alan

Spring on the Farm

Alan and Nancy Brown At the End of Lewis Hill Lane Town of Jackson Greenwich, NY 12834 phone (518) 692-9208 or 692-3120 | Email

Spring on the Farm